Monday, January 5, 2009

Who am I?

How does a house become haunted? Does tragedy contain some dynamic energy that becomes trapped in the location? Even ghosts wonder about these questions, you know. Merbrink just wasn't able to hold onto the energy of tragedy and needed to share it with others. If you'll take a ghost's view of things, immense emotion has the power to take on a physical form.

During the 1920s many people saw the ghost of Merbrink. They recognized me as Miss Phebe, Chloe's old nanny. Merbrink had been built by my rich employer William H. Bruning in 1905 for his bride Nelle Cooper and then left empty suddenly when tragedy befell them again. They didn't marry (don't blame me for that - I scolded them about it) although they remained lovers. In fact, Nelle lived right up the hill in Winona Lake helping her mother Mary care for some world famous Swiss Terrace Inn. William visited every two weeks on his way from Evansville, Indiana to Brooklyn NY.

But none of those details tell you about the juicy part - Nelle and William's illegitimate daughter Chloe Ellen Cooper. This is where the immense emotions get hairy. The story of this child is told in the novel The Lost Chloe. For details, visit http://www.thelostchloe.com/

2 comments:

Patrick and Pamela Stewart said...

Just wanted to say your story is very interesting. The history was quite impressive. If there is any information we could help with please let us know.
Patrick and Pamela Stewart
(son and daughter in law of Anna Lou)

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for taking a look. Your mother was so kind to give me interviews. I'd love to take pictures of the inside someday - she let me take some video clips but didn't like photos for some reason! The picture of the house from Madison is the one she had hanging on her wall from the Brunings. To my knowledge, it is the only known copy.

Haunted Merbrink

Haunted Merbrink
Circa 1933

About the Author (the Living one)

My photo
Winona Lake, Indiana, United States
Shari is a recipient of an Indiana Arts Commission IAC Individual Artist Grant for 2008/2009. Her project involved a manuscript about Merbrink and its famous ghost named Miss Phebe. View this website at: www.thelostchloe.com